


Fallen Knight

by Seiferfan86



Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:49:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23781103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seiferfan86/pseuds/Seiferfan86
Summary: Seifer's been having nightmares, and he'd been dealing with them on his own until Squall finds out why. People aren't so accepting of the past and won't let it go. With the two beginning a new relationship, will things be okay? Or will there be certain things standing in their way?
Relationships: Seifer Almasy/Squall Leonhart
Kudos: 8





	Fallen Knight

**Author's Note:**

> Pretty darker fic than I'm use to I must say. I was thinking of one-shot at first but have ideas for longer fic. I hope you enjoy the read Okay...I just went over this whole chapter and ended up redoing most of it, just to make it a little better!

Title—Fallen Knight

Pairings—SeiferxSquall

Warnings—male/male pairing, angst, sexual themes, non-con and consensual, violence, abuse, torture, language OOC-ness as well as some sappy shit

Summary—Seifer's been having nightmares, and he'd been dealing with them on his own until Squall finds out why. People aren't so accepting of the past and won't let it go. With the two beginning a new relationship, will things be okay? Or will there be certain things standing in their way?

Notes—Well, I thought this sounded like a good idea. I was thinking of a one-shot at first, but it got me to thinking that I could do a lot more with this story as I have plenty of ideas. So as of right now that's what I'm thinking. But we'll see! Lemme know what you think. OKAY. I redid like more than half this chapter. I had a review saying I was moving too fast, which after some thought I guess maybe I was. So I redid it and hope it''s better.

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"Man," Zell started, breathing heavily, grinning, "that was fun."

Squall nodded, wiping beads of sweat from his brow, slightly out of breath. They were returning back to garden after having been outside training. They would've just went to the training center, but it gets old fighting grats and t-rexaurs all the time. Plus, it was nice to get out.

They had been out there for a few hours at most, both losing track of time. So neither of them knew it was almost midnight until they stepped foot back into garden. Usually they weren't allowed to go out that late but they had snuck out, which Squall didn't do very often, but Zell had talked him into it—besides, he'd needed the exercise anyway.

Squall hadn't been getting out too much lately—being buried in paperwork will do that to someone.

"Yeah," Squall finally said, sighing and walking along the halls to the dorms. He's lucky no one was up at this time.

"You okay?" Zell asked with a raised blond brow, giving his friend a curious look at the far away look in Squall's eyes.

Though, not unusual for him to have that look; it had been happening more frequent lately and the brunet hadn't said much of anything so he never brought it up before. Then again, said man didn't really like to talk about his feelings anyway, and prying anything out of him would be harder than pulling teeth.

He'd gotten a little better after the war; this was true. But these last few weeks the brunet seemed off. The blond knew Rinoa may have had something to do with it. They hadn't worked out like everyone thought they would and she had left garden weeks ago-almost a month actually.

"Fine," Squall muttered, frowning to himself. He hadn't seen the look Zell was giving him. He hated people prying into his personal business. It never ceased to grate on the brunets nerves. Squall was a private person. And it was no ones business.

Squall had been more quiet lately, going over everything in his head. From everything that'd happened recently, to how he'd been feeling lately. He hadn't fully understood everything in his mind currently, and he didn't know why he was thinking some of the things he was. He had tried to shake of his feelings.

Squall had been frustrated lately and the feel of his gunblade in his hands as it slices through things was a nice distraction.

"You sure?" he asked his friend, who was looking at nothing down the hallways.

"I said I was fine, Zell," Squall said. "It's a good thing no one's up."

"Yeah. Sorry for dragging you out. I knew you probably needed to blow of some steam," Zell said with a smile.

"Don't worry about it," the young man shrugged his lean shoulders.

"Is there something you wanna talk about?"

"...Not really."

They had stopped for a moment as Zell gave him a glance and sighed. "Squall-"

"Zell," Squall interrupted, "I'm fine," he repeated.

"Look, man, I know Rinoa leaving was unexpected but-"

Squall pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed before interrupting. "Dincht," he sighed, giving him a look that said he didn't wanna talk about it. What had happened with that was no ones business but his own and had kept it to himself.

Yes, Rinoa had left around a month ago; their feelings not the same they once were. They tried to make a go of it for a while after the war, but found themselves growing apart, rather than getting closer as lovers. They haven't spoken too much since she left but they had remained friends.

"I'm just saying, Squall. You're my best friend, you can talk to me if you need to." Zell rubbed the back of his neck.

"If I ever feel like talking, you'll be the first to know," he said while putting his hands in his pockets. He shook his head. There were just some things left better unsaid; and this was one of the cases.

While he did appreciate his friends efforts to help him; he didn't need it. He could take care of himself. He didn't need looked after, which that's all they seemed to be doing.

"Okay," the blond said with another sigh. "Just—you know, so you know.." he trailed off at the look Squall was giving him.

"I know," Squall replied anyway.

"Is it Seifer?"

Squall blinked. Startled by the sudden question, he paused and gave Zell a look, "what?"

"I don't know, man," he started, "I know Rinoa left, but I think there's something else bothering you," he paused then added, "I mean, I may no be the smartest but I do observe."

Squall just stared. "What the hell are you going on about, Dincht," he said this in a low voice.

Unfazed, Zell continued, "I seen you. Every time Seifer is brought up, you tend to avoid the topic."

"There's a reason for that," Squall stated with a glare. "It's none of you damn business."

Seifer was a sore subject for Squall these last few weeks since Rinoa had left. Seifer had left the brunet confused by kissing him in his office one particular day out of nowhere. He had just confessed to the shorter man, confusing the fuck out of him. Squall hadn't known what else to do but to tell Seifer to get out.

He had grown a little closer to his rival lately and, since that day, he hadn't really spoken to him much. He wasn't trying to avoid Seifer—just trying to figure out his own feelings, which was hard to do around the blond. And he knew he liked the tall blond man, but he wasn't sure how far these feelings ran. He had no idea Seifer had been feeling that way, and he had been thinking about it ever since. Before he had kissed Squall, he had said that he had had feelings for him for some time now and wanted to let him know and then kissed him.

While in his confusion and shock, he slowly felt himself respond; not knowing what else to do in that moment. Before his shock wore off and he had pushed the taller man away and had told Seifer to get out of his office. And then after he had left, Squall didn't know what to think about the situation. It hadn't been spoken of since that day.

. He just couldn't stop thinking about that day.

"I'm just trying to help, man," Zell's voice snapped Squall out of his mind and back to the issue at hand.

"When I need your help, I'll ask for it," the gunblader said.

"But—"

"It's getting late," Squall mentioned, cutting him off before he could say anything more. "I'm heading to bed."

"Alright," Zell sighed, dejected. "I'll talk to you later, man."

"Night, Zell."

"Night, Squall."

He watched Zell walk off. He knew they were concerned but he didn't need it. He was fine. He always went at his issues alone. He was perfectly capable.

He didn't know why Seifer had to go and confuse him like that. He had never guessed Seifer to feel that way. Now that it happened, he couldn't stop thinking about it. He knew Seifer didn't have many friends and he mostly kept to himself since he'd gotten back a few months ago. He wanted to just stay out of everyone's way.

A lot of people weren't happy when he'd been readmitted and they were less than friendly with his rival, but Squall found no reason to not give him another chance at it.

Seifer spends most of his time either in the library, class, or his room when he's not in the cafeteria eating. He knew the taller man was lonely; it showed in his eyes. He barely even goes to the training center anymore unless necessary. He felt bad for the blond. How hard it must be for him to be back.

Squall made it to his dorm room and slid his key card in the door to let himself in and proceeded to the showers. He grabbed a fresh set of clothes and headed to the bathroom. He had one of the nicer rooms in garden. Being Commander had it's perks, he supposed; not that he really cared about that kind of thing.

He stripped and turned on the hot water; waiting a few seconds for it it heat up. He stepped inside the shower and sighed as the soothing water rained down on his back, soothing his muscles.

Seifer really only ever talked to him, Zell and the rest of the gang. Everyone saw the change in the older youth. His taunts to Zell even stopped for the most part. Squall had admitted that he actually liked Seifer, and felt bad he was all by himself.

There was an incident around a month and a half ago where some people had ganged up on Seifer. Squall, of course, had taken care of that. Those little shits ended up getting expelled from garden.

It had pissed Squall off more than he liked to admit. But who gangs up on someone who wasn't even trying to defend himself? Seifer had said he felt like he deserved it and it didn't matter anyway and Squall didn't need to concern himself with it. Squall had just stared at him like he couldn't believe he'd just said that shit, and had said back in a harsher tone that he didn't deserve and it wasn't like Seifer at all to just take it like a coward.

Squall regretted them words once they left his mouth, seeing the hurt flash in expressive green eyes for a moment before he just left Squall's office. After punching a wall so hard it should have shattered bones. That actually made Squall flinch.

Squall sighed and stepped out of the shower and got dressed. He laid down and decided he'd try and get some sleep..

He had only just dozed off before he heard something. Snapping his eyes open, he listened for it again.

It came again and Squall blinked in the dark room, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness before sitting up in his bed. It sounded an awful lot like a low pitch scream. That was weird. Squall shook his head and decided to get up as he heard it again and wondered what, or who could be making those sounds.

Squall put on his shoes and stepped out into the hallway and the noise became louder. He walked further along the rest of the dorms. Walking further, he came across Seifer's door when he heard it again. Squall narrowed his eyes and got closer and heard a hitched breath come from Seifer's room.

He heard a whimper and that's when he decided to check on him.

Opening the door with his master card, Squall's eyes adjusted to the dark room and heard another whine. Walking further in, he made his way to Seifer bedroom and saw him laying there, kinda thrashing a little bit while gripping the sheets. He bit his lip and walked further in to get to Seifer's bed and was shocked to see tears coming from clenched eyes and running down tanned cheeks.

Startled, Squall just stood there, not quite sure what do to. He'd never seen the other cry before. Squall seemed to snap out of his trance when the body started really thrashing about on the bed and low screams coming from the blond. Rushing over he tried shaking Seifer's shoulders gently. "Seifer, wake up."

Seifer didn't hear him and continued thrashing about. Squall crawled over him and tried to hold him still. "Hey, Seifer!" Squall was getting worried.

Seifer was shaking and thrashing more violently now and almost knocked Squall in the jaw with his head. "Seifer, dammit, stop!" Squall used all his strength to hold him still.

"N-no-" came Seifer's gasp. "D-don't."

Squall blinked. "Seifer?" He realized Seifer was still dreaming and sighed and he tightened his hold to make sure Seifer didn't hurt himself or Squall.

"P-please stop," Seifer whimpered, still shaking and still appearing to be asleep.

"Seifer," Squall frowned, "wake up." he shook Seifer more to get him to rise.

"Squall…" Seifer hoarsely said, breath hitching "Help me…"

Squall stared and raised his brows high. "Seifer!" Squall said as the trashing began anew.

"No!" Seifer sat bolt upright, breathing hard, tears running down his face.

Squall was startled and gasped at the sudden movement, watching the blond gasp for breath. "Seifer, calm down! It's just me."

Seifer blinked, "Squall?" He was still shaking. "what-" He shook his head.

"Yeah."

"What are you doing here?" Seifer asked in a shaky voice, not looking at the other. He hadn't wanted Squall to see him like this.

"I heard noises..and I came to check on you," Squall answered with a frown. "Are you okay?" Squall almost smacked himself in the head for asking such a stupid question.

Seifer just bit his lip. "I'm fine," he said, rubbing his face with his hands.

"Seifer," the brunet started. He put his hand on the blonds shoulder and got his attention.

Seifer looked over at him and at the hand on his shoulder before tears started flowing again he put his hands to his face to stifle the sobs the wanted to escape his throat, but not really having much luck.

Squall got over his shock quicker this time and shifted them so that Seifer's head was on his shoulder, feeling the body shake in his arms. His shirt was wet from Seier's tears. He wound his arms around Seifer's waist and held him and let him cry before he spoke again.

"Seifer, what happened?"

Seifer's face was buried in the crook of Squall's neck. "I-" He stopped himself. "I can't-" He sighed and clutched Squall's shirt.

"What, Seifer?' Squall urged. "Do these nightmares happen often?"

He felt Seifer nod his head.. "Sometimes…" he trailed off. "A lot more recently."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Not particularly," Seifer muttered into Squall's shoulder.

Squall shivered from the vibrations and sighed. "I think you need to," he said, running his hand down Seifer's back in a comforting gesture.

"No, I really don't think I do…"

"Sefier—"

"W-why do you care anyway?" Seifer's tone was a little harsher than he'd meant it to be.

"Seifer, I'm sorry.." Squall started, squeezing Seifer briefly, "I know things haven't been easy for you.."

Seifer snorted. That was an understatement. It hadn't been easy for the bond at all. "I-"

"But I do care about you," he said before Seifer could say more. He felt Seifer wrap his arms around his waist for a moment before puling away, looking at Squall and biting his lip.

Seifer wiped his eyes, sniffed and sighed a long breath.

"Now what happened in your dream?"

"There were some people…" Seifer started and trailed off, not sure if he wanted to go on. What would Squall think of him after he tells him? Squall's opinion mattered to him and he didn't want him to think he was disgusting.. "I—I remember someone-" He took a breath. This was hard for him to talk about.

He'd never told anyone about shit that had happened, and now he found himself opening up to Squall—he just found it easy when he saw genuine concern fitted over the shorter man's features—a concern for himself that he was not use to.

Squall watched as more tears came out of deep lime green eyes. "Multiple people actually…" he continued and he bit his lip again and tried to keep the tears in. He took in a deep breath before he could continue, feeling Squall's hand on his shoulder.

Squall gave Seifer's shoulder a tight squeeze. "How many? And what happened, Seifer?"

"I—they were holding me….about six of them...and-" he stopped himself again, letting the tears flow freely now, covering his face with his hands again, ashamed with himself.

"T-they were...cornering me...I couldn't...I mean.."

Squal felt his heart constrict at Seifer's words and seeing the pain in his eyes. "What happened?" he asked gently.

"I—I there was n-noting I could do. They beat me pretty bad...and he—they-" He squeezed his eyes shut again, the hand on his shoulder providing comfort.

Squall felt his heart sink further. "They what?" Not sure he was ready to hear the rest but knowing he needed to.

Seifer grabbed his hair and yanked on it tightly, gasping and tears started flowing from clenched eyes.

"Seifer!" Squall caught Seifer's hands as they started to hit his head with clenched fists. Stop!" Seifer was strong, however, and that proved to be difficult. "Fuck, Seifer! Stop!" He used his strength to pulled his hands away from himself and pulled the blond to himself.

Seifer's eyes went wide and he struggled. "No!" He tried to get away but Squall held him firmly. "I—I can't...They were…" He gasped again still struggling from the warm embrace.

"Calm down," Squall ordered and shook him slightly.

Seifer blinked and came back to himself, tears on his cheeks. "It hurt, Squall…" He made a noise in the back of his throat, not looking at his rival. "And There was nothing I could do...they wouldn't stop.." His stomach felt in knots the more he delved further into his story. And he wanted to vomit.

Squall closed his eyes and clenched his teeth

"It was terrible," Seifer whispered. "A of them….they each…" He broke off into a sob at this, it wracking his whole body.

Squall didn't want to hear anymore His anger was rising and he felt his blood starting to boil. He knew what Seifer was saying and was starting to see red.

"They...all of them took turns….I—I god...it hurt so bad.." Seifer clenched his fists in Squall's shirt. "I just wanted it to stop." He stopped and took in a gulp of air and shook his head. This painful memories were haunting him everyday and he just wanted them to go away. Memories of the torture he endured, the pain he went through—the unimaginable pain. He felt sick.

Squall didn't know what to say and rubbed his hands up and down Seifer's back while murmuring soothing words to the blond. "Seifer, I'm so sorry." He didn't know what else to say. "It'll be okay."

Seifer made a noise in the back of his throat and stared at Squall, eyes shining with tears. "I was raped, Squall. How the fuck will it be alright?" His teeth and fists clenched.

"You're right, It's not alright," Squall said, "but I can damn well make sure it doesn't happen again!"

His tone caused Seifer to look at him oddly, head cocked to the side. "I hate to break it to you, princess, But everyone hates me. They'd just as well see me dead…"

Squall just shook his head.

"I don't even know why I came back," Sefier said with much bitterness to his voice.

"What?" Squall said sharply.

"Should've just left me where I was. I don't belong here." Seifer bit his lip and looked away from Squall, losing himself in those stormy eyes—eyes he'd never get tired of looking into."I'm used and a piece of shit, Squall," Seifer said in a harsh tone. "I'm no good to anyone."

Seifer," Squall said firmly but the blond wasn't listening, still going on as if Squall hadn't even tried to speak.

"I mean shit...who wants someone who's used and dirty like me?" Seifer laughed harshly, Squall just stared. "I ain't shit. I-"

"That's enough!" Squall barked, glaring. "I never wanna hear you say that shit again, you hear me?"

Seifer frowned, "but it's-"

"No, Seifer. I fucking mean it. No another word. You're not used, not dirty and you are more than you think."

"Squall." Seifer stared for a moment, not saying anything. Why does Squall care? He should hate him like the rest of them. He was shocked by the vehemence in Squall's tone. Suddenly his bottom lip started quivering and then he started crying again, sobs convulsing his body by the force of them.

Squall's eyes went wide, startled by the blonds tears that came suddenly. He got over his shock and wrapped Seifer in his arms tightly. "Squall I-you-" He couldn't seem to form words and just sat there in Squall's arms and cried.

He just wanted to take Seifer's pain away. He hated seeing the usually arrogant man like this. It just wasn't right. Squall narrowed his eyes, feeling Seifer finally wind his arms around his waist, face buried in his neck. Squall felt the other mans breath on his neck and shivered slightly, holding a little tighter.

"Squall," Seifer finally spoke after a while. His voice was hoarse from crying and Squall heard him sigh.

"Seifer," Squall said back, "I'm here."

"I know," Seifer said with a chuckle.

Squall smiled sightly and shook his head. "Seifer, it will be okay. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

Seifer made himself pull away from the warm embrace and he wiped his eyes. "I'm sorry…"

"Don't," Squall stopped him before he could say more. "There is no reason you should be apologizing, Seifer."

Seifer just bit his lip and looked away. "Squall…" He sighed and rubbed his eyes, feeling every bit exhausted. He just wanted to go to sleep but, at the same time, he didn't. He didn't wanna have those nightmares again...seeing the looks in those men's faces—the hate in their eyes...those dreams were like it was happening all over again.

He didn't wanna feel like this anymore. He hated feeling like this—hated being reduced to...this.

Squall looked at him and sighed. Seifer had been through a lot more than he ever thought. He couldn't even begin to understand what happened. He didn't like to see him like this. Seifer was usually so cocky, arrogant, and self assured. Now...it was obvious the taller man was in a lot of pain. He wanted to help ease that pain.

"I'm just tired, Squall," the taller suddenly said in a soft voice. He wasn't just talking about sleep either. He was tired of so many different things.

Squall nodded, knowing what he meant but decided against saying anything and just providing the other youth the comfort he so obviously needed right now.

The blond man rubbed his tired eyes with the back of his hand. He was thankful Squall was here. After remembering recent events that happened before now; he was actually surprised to find Squall in here comforting him.. He thought Squall hated him. Would be disgusted with him—hell, he was disgusted with himself. He couldn't stand the thought of Squall hating him or thinking differently of him. The brunet's opinion mattered to him a lot.

Squall just wanted to be there for Seifer—to help him any way he can. He felt bad and Seifer didn't deserve that.

"I'm sorry," Seifer said again suddenly, still feeling the need to apologize. "I hadn't intended for you to find out.."

Squall stared at Seifer for a while before he spoke. He would have asked why that was, but he already knew. Who wants someone to see them like this? How painful it must have been to tell Squall about it. But still, Seifer didn't need to apologize for anything, that much was certain. It was probably worse for Seifer than he even thought. To relive painful memories—to have nightmares all the time...he could only imagine how it was for the other man.

"I'm sorry," Squall said back, sighing. "I didn't-"

But Seifer shook his head, cutting the younger man off. "Don't. You didn't know...you couldn't have known. I didn't want you to know."

"I know," the other said as a deep frown settled on his features.

"You must be disgusted with me," Seifer looked away.

"What?" Squall blinked. "No—not all at, Seifer. What happened—it wasn't your fault." He gently rubbed Seifer's back in a comforting gesture.

Seifer made a noise and blinked back tears, closing his eyes slowly, drawing in slow breaths. "It-" he cut himself off, not sure where to go with that.

"What?"

"It won't go away," Seifer completed, eyes not looking at the brunet of his affection. "The memories…" he continued, he voice tight with anger and fear. "I can't...I just want it to go away." He felt a tear trickle down his tanned cheek. He hadn't wanted anyone to know.

Squall's lips thinned as he thought. The pain in Seifer's eyes—the worry and fear that accompanied it-he didn't like to see that look. Squall opened his mouth to ask Seifer something, but he wasn't sure he wanted to know. He closed his eyes momentarily, still rubbing comforting circles on the blond man's back, feeling the tension there.

"I know..." Squall stopped himself and opened his eyes to regard Seifer with a look of concern. "When did this happen?"

Seifer's eyes went kind of wide, pursing his lips. "It-" it was not that long ago actually. But didn't he want to tell Squall? "About a month before I came back here," he finally said, voice thin.

"Seifer.."

"I—I don't know what to do," he said this so quietly Squall had to strain to hear these softly spoken words.

"I'm sorry," Squall repeated, having no clue what else to say other than give the other man comfort.

There was so many things he could have said. "Like, it'll be okay," or I'm here," or It will get better." But he knew it wasn't okay—what the blond had been through. And he didn't know if it would get better. Seifer was like a lost boy who couldn't find his way and had no idea where to turn to for help.

And Seifer had always had trouble asking people for help.

When he had let Seifer come back, he had noticed a considerable change in him, but didn't think too much of it—being as everything that'd happened with the war. It was obvious the other man was hurting, even before he knew about this.

Seifer was still shaking a little as he tried to shake away his nightmare, taking shallow breaths, taking in the comfort that was brought on by Squall's presence, and the comforting hand on his back, which felt nice. He leaned into Squall's touch and sighed.

"It hurts," he said again, and this held some much meaning in just those three words. His voice a breathy whisper as he spoke them.

"I know," Squall said quietly, letting Seifer's head lay on his shoulder. "I'm sorry," he repeated again.

They were both quiet for a moment, Seifer's head on his shoulder, his arms now around this blonds broad shoulder, giving a slight squeeze. He really didn't know what to say to this. What was there to say to something like this? He could feel just how tense Seifer was and sighed to himself.

Seifer was relishing in the comfort of Squall, feeling worn out and dead tired for so many reasons. He sighed," thanks Squall…"

Squall looked at him. "For what?"

Seifer pulled away from the warmth and rubbed his tired face before saying, "I don't—for being here…" he trailed off, looking into the other man's eyes, getting lost in the sea of blue orbs. He enjoyed looking into his eyes. "It just-" he paused, "thanks," he said again and bit his lip. If anyone had to see him like this, he was glad it was Squall.

The younger gunblader smiled at him, a slight quirk of his lips at the sincerity in Seifer's eyes. "Seifer," Squall started then stopped himself.

"Squall…" The tall blond hesitated, "I-" He didn't know what he wanted to say, or he did—just didn't know how to say it. "I'm scared," he finally managed to get out with much difficulty. He hated admitting weakness, especially in front of the man beside him. He hated to admit his fears. It made him feel useless and weak.

He was always use to feeling so confident. Now he felt hopeless and afraid. He knew no one at garden really wanted to be around him and wished he'd never even came back, and it showed in the way their eyes looked when they would look at him—the disgust and hate in their eyes. He'd received about so many threats since his return. Death threats along with warnings to leave garden—that he wasn't wanted here.

He had kept those to himself, not sure he should bother with saying anything about them. They were just threats, after all, however, he didn't know if anything would actually happen, but wasn't so naive to think that nothing wouldn't happen. These notes were a frequent occurrence but had let the matter drop for the most part. But still felt that fear inside himself—a fear he wished he didn't have.

"I know," Squall finally said after what seemed like a long time, and just squeezed the other man's shoulder for comfort, "I know," he said again, and he did know. He could see that fear in the taller man's eyes.

Sefier sniffed and ran a hand through his hair, glancing at the brunet. He said in a quiet voice, "I'm tired."

Squall nodded his agreement and sighed as Seifer laid back down on the bed. "I know. Me, too." And he was. It was getting later and he hadn't even realized how long they'd been talking until he glanced at the clock. It was almost three in the morning. "I didn't realize it was so late," he said.

Seifer shifted and looked at Squall. "Yeah," was all he said, moving some hair out of his eyes, seeing the brunets eyes on him. "Squall-about what happened in your office.."

Squall held up a hand to stop the blond. "We'll talk about that later, Seifer," he told him, not unkindly.

"Later..yeah…" Seifer echoed and sighed.

"Later," Squall nodded, giving a him a smile.

;Seifer hesitated as he saw Squall stand up, getting ready to leave his room, but really not wanting the other man to go. He missed Squall's embrace, his hand on him, comforting him.

Squall could sense the hesitation and paused after he took a couple steps towards the door. "What?"

Seifer shook his head, "it's nothing…" He wanted to ask Squall to stay there with him but didn't know how.

"Seifer," Squall said calmly. "What?"

Seifer leaned up on his elbows a little and said, "Would you….stay here...with me?"

Squall cocked his head and furrowed his brows. "You want me to stay?"

"Please, Squall...I—I can't…" He stopped himself.

Squall wordlessly walked back over to Seifer's bed and, taking off his shoes, climbed in, not needing to hear anymore—he understood what Seifer was saying. He got under the covers and laid down beside him.

Seifer sighed as he felt Squall shift beside him, wanting to hold him, but didn't know if he should.

Squall turned to face him. "Go to sleep," he said in a whisper, hand squeezing Seifer's arm for a brief moment, letting it linger there.

"Yeah," Seifer said back. He was staring at the other, and felt happy in that moment. Squall beside him, offering him comfort—much needed comfort. And wasn't even questioning it. This man meant so much to him.

"Good night, Seifer," Squall said hand still slightly touching the blond.

"Night, Squall," he said in return, feeling the gentle brush of Squall's fingers touching his arm. He wanted to be back in the brunets arms, finding himself missing it. He didn't think he'd be getting much sleep tonight. And if he did sleep, he was sure those dreams would return. As they did most nights. He watched as Squall fell asleep, and sighed.

It was going to be a long night.

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NOTES-So as I said I went over and redid most of this chapter. Took me a while but hope it's good.


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